Harar: The Walled City and Its Hyena Men

High on a walled plateau in eastern Ethiopia, Harar was for centuries a self-contained city-state of merchants, scholars and mystics. Its ramparts — built on the orders of Emir Nur (Sultan Nur) in the 1560s — enclose a maze of alleys that today count as the Islamic world's fourth-holiest city and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Inside the old town, mosques and shrines crowd against market stalls and coffee houses — estimates speak of more than 80 within the walls. The atmosphere is dense, intimate and utterly unlike the highland north: more Arabian Nights than African plateau.

For generations, the so-called Hyena Men of Harar have fed scraps to wild spotted hyenas at the city's edge each night. The tradition began as a practical bargain with scavengers and became a nightly cultural performance. Watching a hyena take meat from its mouth, inches away in torchlight, is the most surreal hour on any Ethiopia itinerary.

The French poet Arthur Rimbaud spent his final years trading coffee and guns in Harar. His restored home now holds a small museum that evokes the trader's life — a literary detour for anyone who knows the poetry, and a pleasant house for anyone who just likes old architecture.

Harar sits at the end of the railway line from Dire Dawa, and a natural route runs from the capital through Awash National Park — kidneys and waterfalls — to the walled city and back. That's exactly the weekend our Harar and Awash tour is built around.